Ziv Cojocaru

Composer, conductor and arranger. A multidisciplinary musician active in the fields of contemporary, classical and popular music. Recipient of the 2025 ACUM Prize, and the 2015 Prime Minister's Award for Composers.
Cojocaru currently serves as an Associate Professor and as the founder and the Head of the Music Division within the Department of Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In addition, he serves as Composer in Residence of the Israel Symphony Orchestra.
Among his past positions, he served as the Conductor in Residence of the Israel Sinfonietta (2018-2023), and as a senior faculty member at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD), where he also served as the Chair of the Department of Composition and Conducting (2018-2021).
Prof. Cojocaru received both his master’s degrees in composition and Conducting at JAMD. He completed his Doctoral degree in composition (Ph.D) at Bar-Ilan University. Cojocaru's works are often recorded and broadcasted on the Israeli Radio.
As a composer, Cojocaru has written commissions for many ensembles and orchestras. His works have been performed in Israel and internationally in various festivals and venues such as - the MATA Festival for Contemporary Music in New York, the Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center (NY) as part of the Subscription Season Concerts, the ECSA European Festival in Luxembourg, the World Music Days Festival of ISCM (the International Society for Contemporary Music), the ACL Asian Festival, the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, the Konzerthaus in Berlin as part of the Euro Classic Festival, the Minoritensaal in Graz - Austria as part of the Tonraum 21 Festival for New Music, the Salzburger Festtage alter und neuer Musik, the Music Days Festival in Skopje - Macedonia, the Ostbelgien Festival in Belgium, the 11th International Percussion Festival and Convention in Taiwan, the INTRADA and MERIDIAN Contemporary Music Festivals in Romania, and in Israel - at the Israeli Music Festival, the Sounds in the Desert Festival, the Spring Competitions, the Voice of Music Festival in the Upper Galilee, and more.
The preforming ensembles and orchestras include the Ensemble l'Itinéraire (France), Zeitfluss Ensemble (Austria), Reconcil Ensemble (Austria), Ensemble Sturm und Klang (Belgium), Atem Ensemble (Romania), Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (Russia), United Instruments of Lucilin Ensemble (Luxembourg), and from Israel – the Israel Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Camerata- Jerusalem, Israel Sinfonietta, Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Symphonette-Raanana, Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble, the Meitar Ensemble, the Israel Contemporary Players Ensemble, Tremolo Ensemble, the Israel Contemporary String Quartet, Tempera Ensemble, the Weimar-Jerusalem Young Philharmonic Orchestra and more. He collaborated with conductors such as Michael Sanderling, Pierre-Andre Valade, Dan Ettinger, Omer. M. Welber, Ilan Volkov, David Greilsammer and more. His works are published by the Israel Music Institute (IMI) and the Israel Music Center (IMC).
As a conductor, Cojocaru served as Conductor in Residence for the Israel Sinfonietta Orchestra (2018- 2023). He also performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Concert-Verein (Austria), the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra the Filarmonica de Stat Botosani (Romania),, the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, the NK Orchestra, the Israel Symphonette-Raanana, the Meitar ensemble, the Moran Singers Ensemble, the Jerusalem Academy Orchestra, and more.
As an arranger, Mr. Cojocaru's works are performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem, the Israel Sinfonietta, the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble, the Tel Aviv Jazz Big Band, the Meitar ensemble, the Tempera ensemble, and more.
In the Popular music scene Mr. Cojocaru worked in his early years on Israel's most prestigious Stage Productions and appeared in best-selling albums as a producer, musical director, arranger, conductor, composer, pianist and keyboards player. Cojocaru also worked for several Israel's top rated TV productions.
Ziv Cojocaru is the recipient of the 2025 ACUM Prize for achievement in concert music, the 2015 Prime Minister Award for composers, the 2000 TAMUZ – Israel’s Music award for best instrumental performance on a recorded album, and several Excellence Scholarships during his studies at JAMD.
cojoziv@gmail.com
Ziv Cojocaru's website